Story To Tell Your Friends
by BellaPerea
Summary: Based on the song by 'Every Avenue': Two spoiled children on friends, family, sundaes, scratches, racing, school, nuke bombs, war, surviving war, amnesia and growing up. AU NejiSaku, for Vesper chan's July contest.


**A/N: For Vesper chan's Sakura one-shot contest. Hope you enjoy!**

**Song: Story To Tell Your Friends – Every Avenue**

**Disclaimer: Rights to the song above, any mentioned product or existing move aren't mine. Neither is Naruto (sadly). ****L**

**Bold – keywords given by Vesper chan**

**By the way, to those who subscribed to 'A-Z: Dream Team Uncut!', there's a poll at my profile page regarding the pairings for that story. Please vote, so I won't get crappy flames from you ranting about 'WHY THEM!' and shit.**

**--**

~O~

_It was the type of feeling that can't be explained_

_The way she moved her lips drove me insane_

_Now I'm left here in the wake of something more_

~O~

"Meanie!" She cried, crossing her arms and turning away childishly.

The boy stood behind his pink-haired playmate. She was the daughter of his uncle's business partner, and he was specifically instructed to entertain her while the grown-ups talk. His younger cousin, Hinata, her usual playmate, was sick in bed. Hanabi was too young to walk, much less relate to a five-year old girl.

So here he was, Neji Hyuuga, Hyuuga prodigy, hanging out with a spoiled Haruno Sakura in the mansion's garden.

"All I wanted was a chocolate chip sundae with **red** sprinkles and M n M's but only the green ones and whipped cream until only three inches high in a glass bowl with my special silver spoon!!" She cried. "Is that so hard?"

Neji squinted, attempting to make the glare he keeps on seeing Uchiha Itachi do (take note it wasn't very good, for he was only six years old). "I'm not your servant. You are very disrespectful."

"SO!" Sakura backfired, walking up to the taller boy and poking his chest repeatedly. "I want my sundae! YOU'RE SO MEAN!"

Getting quite annoyed, he grabbed tiny hands from prodding his person and yanked her towards the house. Without a word, he led her up the back porch and through the hallways of the Hyuuga mansion.

"LET GO OF ME YOU BIG MEANIE!!" She thrashed around in a useless struggle against a boy a year older and a head taller than her.

He took her to a large kitchen. "Sit," He instructed, pointing to a gold stool by the white marble counter. She abided so, but kept a pout on her face.

Neji disappeared behind a door at the back and reappeared with a black-haired man dressed in all green and a white apron.

"YOSH! So what does sparkling Sakura-hime want from the greatest chef in the world, Maito Gai-sama?" He announced, pumping a whisk in the air.

Sakura cheered and clapped her hands with glee. "I want my…"

_~O~_

_She made it hard to leave as she stood by the door_

_In a v-neck T-shirt and nothing more than_

_A single tear rolling down her cheek, whoa_

_~O~_

Over the next year, The Hyuuga and Haruno corporations got closer and are on the verge of merging. Thus, the children of both companies got closer as well, and became the best of friends. Along with the children belonging to the Uchiha, Uzumaki, Akimichi, Aburame, Inuuzuka, Nara and Yamanaka families, they were tightly knit and were the best of playmates.

The nine six-year olds loved each other's company, being together all the time. During lunch break, they sat in a circle at the back of the playground, sharing whatever their cooks packed them in a daily potluck celebration (with the exception of a stingy Chouji). They would visit each other's houses, and when they did, all of them would be together at the same time.

Though all of them had large houses with playrooms and such, the Hyuuga mansion was their favorite play spot. Almost every week after their 1st grade classes were released on Friday, the nine children would go over to Hinata's house and play in the large garden her father ordered for her in front of her room.

There was a swing hanging from a large oak tree, where Naruto tries over and over again to beat his personal 'how high can you go' record. Under that same tree, Shikamaru would doze while Chouji munched on his potato chips. Kiba would be playing with his dog, circling the **statue** of an angel spitting out water into a large seashell. Shino would be sitting by the fountain, watching the dragonflies that were attracted to the water. Over on the other side, Ino, Sakura and Hinata would be practicing ballet to the tune of a small brass **music box** on the paved sidewalk, with Hinata's overprotective cousin lurking over her as he did his homework on the glass table.

"No Forehead! Put your leg up higher!" Ino commanded the pinkette, who was already touching the floor in an attempt to balance herself as her leg was in the air.

"I can't Pig! It's the highest I can do!" She replied. Suddenly, the girl stumbled forward, falling on her knees. "Owie!"

"Are you okay Sakura-chan?" Naruto, her first cousin, came over to her.

"I-it h-hurts! F-fox-chan!" She cried into his orange jacket. She cradled her knee,

"Who has a band-aid? She scratched her knee!" The blonde boy, skeptic at the fact his precious imotou got hurt (in reality though, Sakura is a few months older than Naruto).

Neji looked up from his schoolbook to see everyone surrounding the pink-haired girl on the ground. He reached into the satchel behind him and looked for the mini first aid kit his cook had given him on his birthday.

_"YOSH! Neji-kun, bring this around with you and maybe one day, a cute girl will fall and scratch herself, and you can take care of her and win her heart!"_

"How ironic…" The white-eyed boy muttered, walking over to the younger kids. "Move," He instructed Kiba and Akamaru, and they gladly moved in fear of the Hyuuga. Neji knelt down in front of the weeping Sakura and brought out a cotton ball and a small bottle of alcohol. "This will hurt." He remarked, and started to dab the alcohol filled cotton ball on the scratch

"Itai…" Sakura whined, wincing at the sting of the alcohol.

Neji continued to clean the wound, chuckling at the pain of the little girl. "I told you." He said, getting a band-aid from the pack. "Here," He peeled off the plastic flap and stuck the ban-aid on her pale skin.

The sobbing ceased and Sakura gave a small smile. "Arigatou, Neji-kun."

"Hn." He replied, and walked back to his homework.

"Forehead, if you keep on tripping like that, you won't be a proper princess. Proper princesses are perfect in ballet and everything." Ino commented, hands on hips. Hinata was behind her, fiddling with her forefingers nervously.

"But…I don't wanna be a princess!" Sakura retorted.

Everyone gasped in shock. Neji froze in his tracks. Didn't every little girl want to be a princess?

"You don't wanna be a princess?" Kiba asked, cocking his head to the side questioningly.

"No, princesses are boring. They're all the same!" Sakura stood up and waved her hands around. "Princesses can't go on their skateboards, can't perform for crowds in Staples, they can't even race Formula one! So what's so fun about being a princess?"

Ino was rendered speechless. Her jaw dropped open and her arms hung at her sides. "Are you cereal Forehead?" She inquired, dismay evident in her voice.

"I don't want to be a princess," The pinkette started. "I'm gonna be the most awesome, skater rocker chick who ever beat Sebastian Vettel** (A/N: my hero) i**n the Beijing circuit!" She announced.

~O~

_Don't go away again,_

_I want to be more than a phone call at 4am._

_Seems like every time you come back home_

_It's just to steal my heart and leave._

_Don't go away again,_

_I want to be more than a story to tell your friends._

_Seems like every time you come back home_

_It's just to make me fall again._

_~O~_

Hinata was turning 10. To celebrate, she hosted a slumber party in her house with Ino, Sakura, Tenten (a friend in Neji's grade) and Hanabi. In the heiress' bedroom, the four girls were sprawled over a pile of lavender and white cushions set on the lilac carpet. Typically, they were fixing each other's hair (Ino was pretty good at it for a ten-year old), painting each other's nails and watching old movies (Hinata's strange obsession).

_'Rhett!' _The television cried, showing Scarlett O'Hara calling her husband's name. The girls cooed and wept, touched by the way Scarlett subconsciously preferred Rhett to Ashley (I know their too young to cope with it, but they are elite, making them smart).

Suddenly, the lights flickered and the television screen produced static. All at once, the all the appliances in the room shut down and the five were plunged into darkness.

"Onee-san!" Five-year old Hanabi clung to her older sister like a lifeline, for she had an imminent fear of the dark like any spoiled five-year old.

"IS EVERYONE OKAY?" Someone shouted from the hallway, and a light seeped through the cracks of the door. Gai suddenly burst in the room holding a halogen flashlight, an energetic Lee and a sleepy (and pissed) looking Neji following in step.

"Gai-chan!" The youngest Hyuuga jumped up and latched on to the cook/butler's leg. "I'm so scared! I want my milk!" She cried, weeping into the horrible forest green of Gai's pant leg.

Gai picked up the little girl and she clung to his shoulder like a chimpanzee to a banana tree. "Neji, Lee, take care of the other girls while I get some milk for Hanabi-chan." He instructed. The two boys nodded. "YOSH! Take care of them well younglings! It must be those nuclear tests again."

Awkwardly, the six children stood with nothing to do in the room. Tenten, being the 'big girl' of the group, sat down on a beanbag with an impatient huff.

"Geez, the lights had to go off _right there_ while it was getting good!" She cried, sticking her bottom lip out.

"What movie were you watching? The new _Transformers_ movie?" Lee asked, perking up at the sound of his new favorite movie.

"No," Tenten replied sharply. "We were watching _Gone With The Wind_."

"What's that?" He questioned, the title of the movie not ringing a bell.

Hinata and Sakura looked at each other, and exchanged glances with Tenten before turning back to Lee. "It's a girl thing." They chorused, and Lee sat down on a cushion in defeat.

The lights flickered on and off for several minutes before staying off, leaving the room dark. The children were restless, blindly walking around in the dark and curling up in bed, fast asleep. Eventually, all the little boys and girls were asleep, except for two (ahem, guess who).

A loud sigh echoed through the dark room, and white eyes turned to view the small figure sitting by the window. She looked deep in contemplation when she furrowed her eyebrows like that. It was a simple observation he started seeing whenever she would come to do homework with Hinata, and get very angry at the math book **(A/N: poor math book. My own textbooks are very well abused)**.

"Something bothering you?" He asked, placing a pillow under his cousin's head in a **tutelary** manner before patting her head. _'If that Fishcake guy or Dog Boy touches her…'_ He growled inwardly, hearing something about a childish squabble over his baby cousin **(A/N: POSSESSIVE MUCH NEJ. I still wish for an older brother like that)**.

Short pink locks (that stay short, because she's one of the only two girls in their grade that didn't swoon at the thought of Uchiha Sasuke liking long haired girls) swayed as she turned to face the only other conscious person in the room. "Nothing. Just wondering about some random stuff. That's all." She replied.

"Hn. If nothing else is the matter, then I shall be going." He stated bluntly, getting up from the bed and heading towards the door.

"No! Wait!" Sakura jumped up suddenly, stopping the boy in his tracks.

"What?"

"I…eto…It's kind of lonely, with everyone asleep and all." She rambled, fiddling with the end of the long blue nightshirt she wore over a pair of black leggings. "What I'm trying to say is that I can't…exactly stay in a room alone with a bunch of sleeping people makes me feel…well, lonely."

A fine, thin, brown eyebrow raised in suspicion as the eye under it scanned her over. Long black eye bags stretched from under emerald orbs. Though they went unnoticeable to a normal human, his advanced Hyuuga eyes could see it across the pale skin of her face, making it grayish.

"It's a condition, sort of like insomnia. Naruto had it when he was younger, and our other cousin, Gaara, has it too, only much worse. It's called Inner Personality Disorder. It's a silent subconscious that comes out only at night or when in dire need." She explained. "So will you stay?"

Neji looked over her once more before nodding. She visibly perked up and went back to her seat beside the window, and she motioned to the other side of the cushion for him to sit on. He sat on the lavender seat awkwardly and followed her trail of sight into the oblivion.

"Do you think this will blow off?" She asked all of a sudden.

"Which?"

"This nuclear bomb testing is real, right? My parents lie to me to keep me calm, but I'm smarter than that."

"Then I don't have to lie to you." Neji replied, his eyes not leaving the yellowish poisonous glow of the sky. 

~O~

_It's getting hard, I know, believe me I feel you_

_I can't fall asleep knowing you're not home_

_Is it too much to ask, can't you just pick up the phone?_

~O~

"I hate it." Sakura pouted.

"Hate what, Kura-chan?" Naruto asked. The two thirteen-year olds sat on the bleachers, watching some of their soccer playing friends practice on the main field of Konoha Academy Mid-Level.

She tugged on her short pink hair that tapered by her ears and flared out by her chin and pulled back by a black bow. She bumped her chunky white blue-and-yellow paint splattered Royal Elastics together, her eyebrows furrowing at the strange sound they mad.

Worried, Naruto waved a hand in front of her emerald green eyes. "Sakura-chan? Are you okay?"

"Oh, yeah. Well, the go kart track is too far down south that they had to close it 'cause Ame is coming already." She explained, tugging on the red shirt she was wearing. "God, it's hot."

"Hina-chan!" The blonder of the cousins turned to see the white-eyed heiress skipping over to the bench.

"Ah-oh…" Hinata's face fell and a blush stained her cheeks. "…N-Naruto-k-kun…" She became redder and redder and was about to pass out until a 'hn' knocked some consciousness back in her.

"Neji-san, have you come to meet your cousin?" Sakura asked, giggling at a vigorously nodded Hinata.

"Hai, Haruno-san." He replied.

"Aye," And awkward silence filled the bleachers. Hinata turned her head away from Naruto and to her fingers, pressing them together. The blonde boy lifted an eyebrow in surprise at first, but shrugged it off and looked back at his manga. Sakura was somehow addicted to her new sneakers (she got it in a yearly sale for her favorite sports brand) and bumping them together.

"Hinata-sama…"

"Hai?"

"We must go."

Hinata nodded and picked up her back. "Bye, Sakura-chan, Na-Naruto-kun."

--

A few days later, Naruto invited everyone over in the Uzumaki estate. That meant him having a huge party, and his grandfather not being able to finish any work. I mean, come on, 12 thirteen-year olds in your house isn't exactly the best working environment.

The upside: his precious pink-haired niece was going to be there.

She and Naruto were the best of friends. Tsunade had told him to beat some respect into his grandson when they were young, so now they had no problems (i.e. insults and daily beatings).

When he went down to great the precious (yet strangely always dressed in all black) pinkette, he spotted the Hyuuga boy glaring holes at the back of her head. Her arms were crossed oppressively (like Tsunade does) and she was leaning at the very end of the couch.

"Who's my Sakura-chan?" Jiraiya outstretched his arms, welcoming his niece into a hug. She perked up and skipped to her uncle, beaming at the silver-haired man.

"Jiraiya-sama!" She cried, jumping into his arms. "You're back from that business meeting in Suna already? Ooh! Did you get me anything…?"

The geriatric laughed at her antics. Even though she was growing up, she still reminded him of the little daughter he had all those years ago before the car accident, especially in the black Lolita dress, stockings and Mary Jane's, not to mention the signature black bow that held back her loose bangs.

"I'm sorry little Cherry, but because of the war—"

Her face fell and her hair made a veil around her eyes. "I see. They took away my kart course too. Another year and a half and I could've gotten that Formula 1 permit."

"It's okay Cherry, it's going to end soon." Jiraiya pat her head affectionately.

Sakura immediately threw a worried glance at Neji, the boy who she just argued with over their advanced math homework (she hated it, he loved it).

Jiraiya saw this exchange and saw the worried shine in his niece's emerald eyes. He looked at the direction her gaze fell upon, and saw the Hyuuga boy scrutinizing her and give a curt nod.

_"Then I don't have to lie to you." _

~O~

_We've had our share of fights, _

_I know it's not easy when I'm never home,_

_I have my own dreams_

_Like you have your life planned out back home_

~O~

The truth hurt sometimes—a _lot_. When it hit you, it always hit you hard. As in, nuclear bomb kind of hard.

That's the truth. The Konoha 12 (as they were called) was lucky enough to survive the nuclear war, let alone study through it. Konoha Academy's campus was totaled, leaving the children studying in refuge centers. North side Konoha inhabitants were taught by Tsunade, the school's original principal before it got blown up. The females of that group were also taught to be medics, while the boys were taken under the wing of General Hatake Kakashi, ANBU Ops extraordinaire.

At seventeen, Hinata, Ino and Sakura were certified medics, Sakura especially. A medical prodigy is what they called her. She'd laugh at the idea, since she only graduated senior year. Then again, that's what Shikamaru used to get out of designing that new military rocket.

Naruto, Sasuke, Kiba, Shino, Lee, and Neji were already frontrunners for commander generals at their young age. Chouji and his family helped supply enough food and shelter for refugees while Tenten and her parents took care of the army's weapons. Shikamaru was, of course, the head projectile designer and tactician—certified genius.

They were the elite. They were young, quick, strong, well trained and smart. The ideal children from the most prestigious clans all in one group practically ran the whole operation. High school may have been a mess, but they survived and made it to the top.

The ideal. The **paragon** of general's dreams. The elite.

~O~

_Don't go away again,_

_I want to be more than a phone call at 4am._

_Seems like every time you come back home_

_It's just to steal my heart and leave._

~O~

Red eyes snapped back to the gold head running through the desolated field. "Naruto! Get to the west side and support Sakura!" He cried, pointing to the opposite side, shooting an Ame soldier while he was at it.

Naruto nodded and ran into the **copse** of trees, looking for the pink-haired field medic. She was assigned to their team, along with General Kakashi and Kiba's team. According to the last radio conversation with Shino, she was attending to Lee, who was stabbed through his right shoulder.

The blonde felt bad about leaving Sasuke alone with only Kakashi as support, but his imotou always came first. It was his bad habit—**cosseting** his little sister and her friends. Call it chivalry, but Naruto was one to respect to female race (after experiencing what they can do if you don't).

He spotted a blotch of dirtied pink among the only thickness of trees in the field. "Sakura-chan!" He called out. "Sakura!"

Said pinkette looked up from Lee's almost completely patched up shoulder to smile at her cousin. She opened her mouth to speak, but a loud beeping noise filled up the copse, causing the three to look around curiously.

"GUYS!" A distant voice called. "Watch out! It's a nuke!"

A light engulfed the clearing and before they could scream—

They were gone.

~O~

_Don't go away again,_

_I want to be more than a story to tell your friends._

_Seems like every time you come back home_

_It's just to make me fall again._

~O~

The bomb wasn't a true nuke, but it was still a bomb and it was still effective. All the trees have been blown to bits, but everyone was accounted for and alive.

Except one.

"When the bomb went off, I saw her push Lee out of the way. The bomb was nearest to her."

Naruto's golden hair bunched up in between his fingers as he recounted the incident, sitting on his makeshift cot.

"She was just there, and then nothing."

Ino fell to her knees, weeping over the loss. Shikamaru and Chouji escorted her out of the infirmary, along with Tsunade (Sakura's aunt) and Shizune, who were both trying to be strong over the great loss.

"Poor Kura-chan." Naruto murmured. "Ero-sennin told me to protect her, like an Aniki should. But I failed. I failed really bad."

Hinata rubbed his back and handed him a glass of water. Sasuke visibly tensed; his shoulders were stiff and his jaw locked under the bandages around his head. An awkward silence hung in the room until the swinging of a door marked the re-entrance of Shikamaru.

"Naruto, is there any possible reason why the search team couldn't find her body?"

~O~

_And I will always stand between us_

_And hold you so high_

_Just enough to watch you fade_

_Tonight you'll cry yourself asleep_

_As I lay awake in some far off city_

_Pretend you're lying next to me_

_Eyes wide open dreaming of you _

~O~

Bright green eyes darted around the room, trying to remember whatever happened beforehand. The owner of the pair shot up, sending a wave of pain throughout her body.

"Aa, I see you're awake."

Her head snapped to the right, causing another surge of pain to sweep through her neck. "Where a-am I-I? W-who a-a-are y-you?" She muttered. "W-who…who am I?"

A dark chuckle echoed through the room. Orochimaru was right. The blast caused her to forget everything.

"To answer your questions in order; you're in your room. My name is Kabuto and your name is Haruno Sakura, one of the best medics for Sound."

--

Neji played with a knife, very bored after Tsunade and Jiraiya put his team off-duty for the next few days. He lay on his cot fancily flipping the blade in his hands before throwing it towards the door.

"Onii-san!"

Neji sat up in his bed and looked towards the door where Hinata was clearly shivering from the shock of having a knife thrown at her.

"Gomen, Hinata-sama." He bowed his head in respect to the main house member.

"Its okay." She replied shortly, stabilizing herself.

"Do you need something, Hinata-sama?" He asked.

"Oh, yes! W-well, you see, S-Sakura-chan's belongings needed to be d-divided and I found t-that maybe y-you'd l-like this…" She came up to the side of his bed and presented him with a box.

"Arigatou, Hinata-sama."

After Hinata left, Neji decided to peer inside the box. The first thing he pulled out was a picture of Sakura and Naruto dumping his birthday cake on him **(A/N: as my family's tradition)**. He sighed at the sight and set it on his bed beside him.

The next thing he pulled out was a black hair clip in the shape of a bow. A faded 'Hello Kitty' clasp held the ribbon together on the metal clip. This was the fame 'lucky race clip' she loved to brag about when she first started competing (three gold, five silver and ten bronze—what isn't there to brag about?).

After putting the clip down, he pulled out a thick book—her Algebra 3 book from junior year, the year he had to tutor him because she was struggling in her advanced math classes, and she considered moving back to regular math the next term. Still, her parents insisted that she stay, and the only way she could do that was to get a tutor.

There was one more thing inside the box. He picked up the black leather bound notebook with the words 'Death Note' etched in the front **(A/N: I'M A FANGIRL TOO! I wanted to buy this in Comic Alley, but then there were these really cool phone straps and stickers…)**. The handwriting on the lined pages indicated the owner of the book was about seven to nine years old. He opened it and began to read:

**_Friend Profiles_**

**_Uzumaki Naruto – shorter than me. He only looks tall because his hair is spiky. Try shaving him bald and he'll be a head shorter than me._**

**_Still, he's my best friend and cousin and will never betray me. He's trustworthy and can always cheer me up when I'm down. I just wish he wasn't so dense that he wouldn't notice Hinata blushing and fainting whenever she's around him._**

**_Uchiha Sasuke – The school heartthrob. Why does everyone (even Ino-pig) like him? He's so annoying and all he ever says in 'hn'. One day, you just watch, he's gonna regret the day he (purposely, I swear I saw him do it) spill my chocolate sundae! Do you know how particular I am with my sundaes?_**

The list went on, mentioning their circle of friends and memorable moments between them. She obviously had a lot, since she was the most flexible (in terms of personality—she couldn't split until she turned sixteen) of the group, with interests ranging from poetry and fashion design to racing and skateboarding.

It wasn't until the end, though, when he reached his name.

**_Hyuuga Neji – Just like Sasuke, every girl (not including me or Hinata, that's just gross) has fallen for him. Don't you just wanna chop off his hair? It's even prettier than Ino's! What conditioner does he use? I bet it's some foreign brand that only Hyuugas know about…_**

**_Anyways, I still don't understand why girls like him. He doesn't smile, and the only time I hear him talk is to boss us and boast about 'o…I'm from the Hyuuga clan, but my uncle doesn't love me' and stuff like that._**

**_He would be nice if he just smiled once in a while. I admit, he could be attractive if he just smiled. He's always pouting. Doesn't he know that pouting is how Itachi-onii-chan got lines early?_**

**_You can tell he cares though. He's really protective of Hinata-chan and Hanabi-chan. He always carries around a first aid kit, so whenever someone falls and gets hurt, he always has a band-aid. Well, at least that's what happened to me. I'm not sure if he does that when Naruto falls and scratches he knee… I still haven't dropped my theory about him being and otomen*. _**

Neji was taken aback. Sakura thought he was girly?

Still, he contemplated. Was he really unconsciously caring for everyone? Only instinct brought him to bandage up those little scratches on the knees and such. Yet, he always helped her in particular. Sure, once in a while Hinata or Hanabi or even Tenten would fall, but Sakura was the one he was constantly helping. Tutoring her, cleaning her wounds or just plain sitting with her—it was always her.

And now she was gone.

One thing for sure, Haruno Sakura was going to haunt his dreams tonight.

~O~

_Don't go away again,_

_I want to be more than a phone call at 4am._

_Seems like every time you come back home_

_It's just to steal my heart and leave._

~O~

Seven months later…

Reconnaissance in Sound wasn't his favorite thing to do. He wasn't stealthy—well, he was, but that didn't mean he was inconspicuous. He had white-eyes for Kami's sake!

Yet, here he was, walking down the streets of Sound with a hat pulled low over his face, and a hood to cover his ear communicator. He looked over to the west and saw Kiba and Shino standing on top of a building, looking towards the marketplace.

_"They must be crazy!"_ Kiba's voice resonated through the earpiece. _"We're here to investigate if they're behind the goddamned war all along and here they are, bombing their own village!"_

"Urusai, Dog Boy." Neji backfired. "It's a cover-up. They probably know we're here already, and they're going to blame the bombing on Konoha."

_"Oh…"_ The hound trainer replied. _"I guess that means that we'd have to call in Shikamaru."_

"Not enough time," The Hyuuga whispered lowly, trying not to draw attention to himself as he stalked through the crowds. "It's probably timed to go off soon, since Akamaru can already smell the radioactive waves coming from the marketplace."

_"We'll meet you at the wet market in ten minutes. Take the opposite route." _Shino commanded bluntly before he, Kiba and Akamaru disappeared into the shadows of a random dark alley.

Seven minutes later, Neji was already making his way through the wet market when he saw a familiar blotch of pink.

He blinked again, not believing what he was seeing, only to be met by a sweet, young woman in a white and yellow summer dress receiving a paper bag full of vegetables from a kindly female vendor. Her unnatural pink locks were tied in a messy ponytail on top of her head and she held a woven basket in her hand with various fruits in it.

It wasn't impossible, yet it was at the same time.

He was looking at Haruno Sakura.

_"Hyuuga, where are you?" _Shino asked.

"Something came up. Give me five minutes." He said, before turning his communicator off. He automatically started walking to the pink-haired woman, planning in his head how to approach her and all.

And Naruto said that gentlemanly charms were for nothing.

Before he could get to her, he had to pass an empty fish vendor booth. He heard an increasingly fast beeping coming from _inside_ the booth.

He turned his communicator again. "East point—nuke located." He deadpanned before discreetly pulling out a pocketknife and made his way to the fish booth and tapped on the plank. Sure enough, it was hollow. He bent down, making him lower than the rest of the crowd and more invisible.

He brought his pocketknife down on the plank and peeled off the first plank. When he didn't see anything, he plucked out a second plank and saw that shiny silver tube-like thing with all the beeping lights called the TNE—timed nuclear explosion.

Hastily, he pulled it out and threw in the air, just before it detonated. It exploded in the air, painting the sky brilliant hues of red and orange. The force brought everyone to their knees. The booths peeled off from the ground and started flying away.

As it went off, Neji jumped over and pulled the pink-haired girl down, protecting her from the debris spinning in the air. He shielded her with his body, his head on top of hers and her head on his chest. His hands blocked her face from the dirt as it flew around them.

The implosion's effects were over. People started standing up and looking for their friends or picking up random civilians around them while the **smoke** cleared. Neji got up and examined the girl under him. Her eyes were opened slightly and blood was trickling over her eyelids from a cut under her bangs. Her hair was tousled and her dress was torn and dirtied from all the rubble around them.

He helped her sit up and she rubbed her head in pain.

"Are you alright?" He asked.

An eye opened slightly to look at her savior. Neji inwardly let out a sigh of relief as he saw brilliant emerald peek from pale eyelids. "Who…I…err…" She stumbled with her words until both orbs exposed themselves and she lunged at him, bringing them both to the ground. "Neji!"

"Ha-ru-no!" He cried. "Cho…king…"

"Neji, they told me that I worked for Sound…and…" She sobbed into his cloak. "I forgot everything about you guys! The fall…Orochimaru did something…he…t-touched—!"

His lips were pressed onto hers chastely that she wasn't even sure it had happened. "Sh…I'm just glad you're alive." 

~O~

_Don't go away again,_

_I want to be more than a phone call at 4am._

_Seems like every time you come back home_

_It's just to steal my heart and leave. _

~O~

"So…you loved each other without knowing it but it was like you hated each other at the same time?"

"Um…yeah…I guess. You just made it a lot more complicated than it needed to be…"

"Just like her mother does."

"Hey!"

Neji bowed his head down over the pink-haired, white-eyed girl sitting up on the bed. "Go to sleep, Aiko-chan. You have school tomorrow."

Akiko pouted. "It was so unfair. You guys had no classes because of the war. I have to wake up so early to even get to class!"

"Would you have liked it if you studied in a cave?" The father backfired.

Sakura laughed at her daughter's antics and ruffled her hair. "Good night, Akiko-chan." She said before leading her husband out of the room and switching off the wall light. She suddenly pushed her husband up the wall with her finger and poked his chest. "Now what was it about me complicating things?"

"Would you like a sundae my dear?"

She smiled. "With whipped cream three inches tall, green MnM's and red sprinkles?"

~O~

_Don't go away again,_

_I want to be more than a story to tell your friends._

_Seems like every time you come back home_

_It's just to make me fall again__._

_--_

**A/N: Did you like it? I know that the 'explosion' part was _sabaw_**** (mga pinay, alam mo na yan) I mean…confusing and badly written. :P**

**Yeah, and I'm sorry about the violent theme, but I just studied the whole Philippine history in one day, and I'm a history geek. At the age of eight, I practically memorized the whole WW II timeline. I needed to vent out all my knowledge of War and Peace (not the book, I' to lazy to read the goddamned thing) on something, so this came up! A new fic coming out sometime this year will also have a war-theme, but TOTALLY different. :D Swear. **

**I love writing childhood fluff. Don't you love the times before everyone became mass murderers? =))**

**Review please!**


End file.
